New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Thoughts For The Day~*~Self-Restraint ^*^*^ August 11

~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~^*^*^*^*^(\    ~~    /)(     \(AA)/     )(_ /AA\ _)/AA\^*^*^*^*^Self-Restraint"We enjoy certain inherent advantages which should make our task of self-restraint relatively easy. There is no really good reason for anyone to object if a great many drunks get sober. Nearly everyone can agree that this is a good thing. If, in the process, we are forced to develop a certain amount of honesty, humility, and tolerance, who is going to kick about that? If we recognize that religion is the province of the clergy and the practice of medicine is for doctors, we can helpfully cooperate with both. Certainly there is little basis for controversy in these areas. It is a fact that AA has not the slightest reform or political complexion. We try to pay our own expenses, and we strictly mind our single purpose." - Bill W. 1962AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service, 26th Printing, p. 69 Thought to Consider . . . We are not living just to be sober; we are living to learn, to serve, and to love. *~*AACRONYMS*~*S W A T  =  Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, and Trust *~*^Just For Today!^*~* So Touchy From: "We Agnostics"   Besides a seeming inability to accept much on faith, we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice. Many of us have been so touchy that even casual reference to spiritual things made us bristle with antagonism. This sort of thinking had to be abandoned. Though some of us resisted, we found no great difficulty in casting aside such feelings. Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.  2001 AAWS Inc.Alcoholics Anonymous pages 47-48 *^Daily Reflections^*REMOVING "THE GROUND GLASS" The moral inventory is a cool examination of the damages that occurred to us during life and a sincere effort to look at them in a true perspective.  This has the effect of taking the ground glass out of us, the emotional substance that still cuts and inhibits. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 140 My Eighth Step list used to drag me into a whirlpool of resentment.  After four years of sobriety, I was blocked by denial connected with an ongoing abusive relationship.  The argument between fear and pride eased as the words of the Step moved from my head to my heart.  For the first time in years I opened my box of paints and poured out an honest rage, an explosion of reds and blacks and yellows.  As I looked at the drawing, tears of joy and relief flowed down my cheeks.  In my disease, I had given up my art, a self-inflicted punishment far greater than any imposed from outside.  In my recovery, I learned that the pain of my defects is the very substance God uses to cleanse my character and to set me free.Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*One Fellowship - Many FaithsAs a society we must never become so vain as to suppose that we are authors and inventors of a new religion. We will humbly reflect that every one of A.A.'s principles has been borrowed from ancient sources. <<< >>> A minister in Thailand wrote, "We took A.A.'s Twelve Steps to the largest Buddhist monastery in this province, and the head priest said, 'Why, these Steps are fine! For us as Buddhists, it might be slightly more acceptable if you had inserted the word 'good' in your Steps instead of 'God.' Nevertheless, you say that it is God as you understand Him, and that must certainly include the good. Yes, A.A.'s Twelve Steps will surely be accepted by the Buddhists around here." <<< >>> St. Louis oldtimers recall how Father Edward Dowling helped start their group; it turned out to be largely Protestant, but this fazed him not a bit. A.A. COMES OF AGE - 1. p. 231 - 2. p. 81 - 3. p. 37 *~*^Big Book Quote^*~* Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others."Alcoholics Anonymous 4th EditionThe Family Afterward pg. 132*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*A.A. Thought for the Day"While alcoholics keep strictly away from drink, they react to life much like other people. But the first drink sets the terrible cycle in motion. Alcoholics usually have no idea why they take the first drink. Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied, but in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. The truth is that at some point in their drinking they have passed into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of no avail." Am I satisfied that I have passed my tolerance point for alcohol? Meditation for the Day He who made the ordered world out of chaos and set the stars in their courses and made each plant to know its season, He can bring peace and order out of your private chaos if you will let Him. God is watching over you, too, to bless you and care for you. Out of the darkness He is leading you to light, out of unrest to rest, out of disorder to order, out of faults and failure to success. You belong to God and your affairs are His affairs and can be ordered by Him if you are willing. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may be led out of disorder into order. I pray that I may be led out of failure into success.Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012 You can now receive Transitions Daily 3 ways: 1. Sign up at http://ift.tt/1MBbjVt - To subscribe now send an email to TransitionsDaily@gmail.com TransitionsDaily@gmail.com with the email address to send the invite to. 3.  Follow Transitions Daily on Twitter https://twitter.com/ Devotions are posted Daily via Email, Facebook and Twitter! -- To Donate Go to: http://ift.tt/1LFEb4b   For more Information about this distribution go to http://ift.tt/1MBbjVt.   The members of this group are anonymous with no sale or disclosure of membership to other members or the redistribution of emails of any kind. Once you have been added, you will receive a confirmation email. Please allow 24 48 hours for entry.   Feel free to share http://ift.tt/1MBbjVt in meetings, with friends, sponsors, and especially your sponsees in recovery! You can also download the Transitions Daily Flyer by clicking on this link http://ift.tt/1MBbjVv to use in your service work!

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